WOW What a month!!!

    We have had a very busy and crazy month. Zman started school at the local public school at the beginning of the month. We started regular schedule at home for school with SuperE and PrincessZ, (that didn't last long). Then I found out about a Charter School in town that does a Microsociety program. They had just one spot open in their first grade class. So after just 9 day at the regular school we moved Zman to the Charter school. And he is just finishing is first full week there and so far we love it. His teacher is great and I love how small the classes and school is. Microsociety is a great program. They run their school like its own little state where every class is its own little city. They have a governor, judges,and lawyers, and even some of the older kids run businesses that the younger kids work for. The kids get paid and they earn money in class and learn how to pay taxes and other bills. It shows the kids the "whys" of learning. And shows them that being a good member of a community is just as important as learning how to read and write.

    Besides the changes in school we have also had a few changes at home. At the beginning of the month I started have lots of dizzy spells. I have been diagnosed with vertigo and have been taken off work indefinitely. So I get to play the stay at home mom for the time being and on days that I am feeling okay I love it. The kids have really been enjoying me being home, as much as I have. But it has been adjustment and we are just now getting in to a normal routine. And on top of all of that we have been passing a cold around the house. This is why I haven't posted anything this month. Next month I hope to post more and talk more about homeschooling and the kids.

We Did What???

   Last spring after dropping Connections Academy and losing our main avenue for field trips and socializing with other home school families we joined a Christian homeschool group on Facebook. It started out great there were lots of field trips, play dates to go on and great people to meet. But last month we had a very trying experience, and while we were not the ones directly targeted we felt that it was in our family's best interest to no longer be a part of that group.

   So there we found ourselves again with out a support group and away to make friends. At first we didn't know what to do. We felt very defeated, sad, and just longed to have a group to call our own. So Mitch and I decided to start our own Facebook group. So that was how  Salem Area Family Forward Homeschooling Association was born. We choose the name because family is the main reason why we have chosen to homeschool. Our little group has really started to grow and take off. While I haven't been able to do as much with it as I would have liked, so far I feel it has great potential. I hope for it to one day be a place for newbies and veteran homeschoolers can come together and give each other support and make new friends with out having to worry about being judged or singled out for any reason. No one should ever feel that they should have to hide who they are, or what the believe. 

Our curriculum for 2013-2014

This year we are using a few different curricula. With three kids doing three different thing it can get crazy and expensive but I think we did pretty good and were able to stay on budget.

 Zman (First Grade public school) 

    While he is going to public school and will obviously  be doing work there we have decided that there are a few thing he will still do at home. So on top of regular school he will be doing: 

• Scripture Study: Discover The Scripture Book of Mormon Grades 1-3
• Daily Note book: Elementary Daily Learning from Confessions of a Homeschooler 

SuperE (Kindergarten/1st grade)

  Will be using Time4learning.com as a base curriculum for Language Arts, and Math. He will also be doing:

• Scripture Study: Discover The Scripture Book of Mormon Grades 1-3
• Daily Note book: Pre-school Daily Learning from Confessions of a Homeschooler
• Handwriting: Handwriting with out Tears and print able work sheets
• Science: We will be doing many different unit studies on things that interest him.

PrincessZ (Pre-School)

  Since she really wants to do school this year we have choose a few things to try with her and just keep her busy and learning this year. She will be doing:

• Letter of The Week by Cofessions of a Homeschooler
• ABCmouse.com
• Daily Note book: Pre-school Daily Learning from Confessions of a Homeschooler
• And anything else she wants to join in on. 

    We will also be doing lots of field trips, hands on projects and playing. This year I hope to really utilize our OMSI membership, which also gets us in to The Gilbert House.  We will also have a focus on service to other, and will be trying to do one service project a month for a whole year. 

Back to School

     So yesterday was our first official day of school this year.  All summer Zman has been asking to go to regular school this year and after lots of praying, we decided that if he was going to try it out this would be the best year. So last Friday we got him all signed up for school and went school clothes shopping.  And spent all weekend worrying about the first day of school.

   Yesterday was the big day and Zman did great we walked him to class and dropped him off and that was that, no crying or anything.  

                                              Zman 

                        

                       Zman and his teacher, she seem really nice.

                            Mommy and Zman when did he get so big.            

                                    Cool new school shoes. 

     So we will only have SuperE and PrincessZ home with us this year. We actually started school a few weeks ago but since we did first day of school pictures with Zman, I decided to do them with the younger two.

                                               SuperE

PrincessZ

Our First Blog

    Welcome to our Family Blog. This Blog will mostly just be about our family and what we are up to. Join us on our adventure of homeschooling 3 kids, traveling, working full time, and anything else that comes up when the kids out number the parents.